Privacy and the database state in the news

Privacy and the database state in the news

Guy Herbert

NO2ID Press Release – IMMEDIATE 4th November 2015 The new draft surveillance bill is like an iceberg, with a vast bulk of technical change obscured beneath the surface, according to civil liberties organisation NO2ID[1]. Theresa May presented the Investigatory Powers Bill [2] to parliament today as a measure “consolidating and updating our investigatory powers, strengthening the safeguards”. But it amounts to a dramatic alteration in the powers already available not just to the intelligence services, but to police, tax inspectors, and officials and regulators in almost every department of state [3]. It replaces several pieces of complex and technical legislation. Guy Herbert General Secretary for NO2ID, said: “I would have more sympathy for the Home Secretary if she did not resort to glib hypotheticals about kidnapped children. This is not a proposed bill that is easy to understand or straightforward in effect.” “The much trumpeted change in oversight focuses […]